Cautious relief from canola farmers as China delays rule change

So far, China is holding off a change to import regulations that could really hurt Canadian canola farmers.

On September 1st, new rules were supposed to come into effect restricting canola imports to those containing less than 1% plant materials other than seeds.

However, the global standard is 2.5%. Farmer Kevin Surface says he’d love to get his seed down to even 2% dockage, but getting seeds as clean as possible is a balancing act.

“We have to put it through a combine and separate all that plant material from these seeds.” he says. “But there’s a fine line between getting that seed as clean as you possibly can, and throwing it all out the back of the machine as well, while you’re trying to do it.”

Surface tells the Alberta Morning News that dockage also goes up when you’ve had hail storms damage your crops. Something that happened to a lot of farmers this spring.

This is the second time the change was delayed, after it was supposed to be implemented in April.

Surface worries it will only stay that way as long as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is in China.

“I’m really hoping that the Chinese aren’t just saying ‘Yeah yeah yeah. We’ll take this as is.’ Just to keep it out of Trudeau’s hands I guess, or off his mind, you know, while he’s there.” says Surface. “But that’s my fear.” (ms, Alberta Morning News)